Blue
by Quicksilvermad
Summary: Theme #005 BLUE: Movie-verse, 1st movie. Tony catches Pepper mourning over the Shelby Cobra he accidentally crushed.


**TITLE: **Blue  
**AUTHOR:** Quicksilvermad  
**SUMMARY:** Movie-verse. Tony catches Pepper mourning over the Shelby Cobra he accidentally crushed.  
**GENRE:** General  
**RATING:** PG  
**PAIRING: **Tony/Pepper  
**DISCLAIMER:** _Iron Man _etc. belong to Marvel Comics et. al.  
**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **For the 100 Themes Challenge over on LJ (at the Pepperony100 community)

* * *

Tony, in rare form, was actually sleeping in his own bed for once. Not the sofa in the workshop, not the living room sofa, not the lounge chair in the gallery or the "guest" room bed that had not seen a single one-night-stand for over half a year. Pepper had come in earlier than usual with Tony's dry-cleaned leather jacket (which needed cleaning because of an incident involving car paint—don't ask) hooked onto one finger and her purse, laptop bag, breakfast, and coffee balanced on her opposite arm. She asked Jarvis before opening the door where the boss man was.

It was the perfect time.

She was being as quiet as possible—she dropped everything onto the couch but her Starbucks stuff (well, Tony's morning coffee ended up on a coaster on the coffee table beside the game of backgammon they still needed to finish) and toed her heels off on the rug by the fireplace.

On her bare feet, she silently padded down into the garage and walked slowly to stand before one of the greatest machines she'd ever watched Tony create.

A 1967 Shelby Cobra 427—eight cylinders of racing _power _painted a striking blue with the signature white racing stripes down the hood and trunk that had been recreated by the hands of a pure genius.

Also _destroyed _in the blink of an eye by that same genius.

Pepper pulled a work stool along the floor and sat in front of the ruined car—numbly picking at her pumpkin scone and half-heartedly chewing on the pastry as her sharp blue eyes skimmed over every detail. She sat that way for about twenty minutes (eating like a bird the whole time). Mentally, Pepper compiled a list of parts that would be needed to fix the damage.

_Well, the right-hand side is somewhat salvageable, but what about the engine?_

She sipped at her coffee and scooted the work stool close enough to try the release catch on the hood. There was a leg imprint on the left, but it hadn't warped the hood _too _much…

It refused to budge.

"Who am I kidding… It's _dead," _Pepper grumbled and slumped back onto the padded stool. She continued staring at the scratched paint and mangled metal as she stuffed a huge chunk of scone in her mouth.

"What'cha doin'?"

Pepper leapt to her feet and nearly spat out her breakfast in shock. "_Jesus!" _she shouted around her mouthful.

"No, Tony," the groggy voice answered.

She hopped on her bare feet —still in shock at his sudden appearance. She swallowed the rest of the scone and almost choked herself. "Where the _hell _did you come from?!" she squeaked.

"Did you get me one?" he pointed at her empty Starbucks bag with one hand and scratched itch just above his bellybutton.

"_Gah!" _said Pepper.

Tony grinned and tipped his head (he sported a wicked cow-lick that had his hair standing straight up on one side only). "Take that as a no…" he said.

She balled up the bag with her one free hand and tossed it at him. Shockingly it bounced off his arc reactor and landed somewhere on his cluttered desktop. Tony blinked at it sluggishly and pointed at the Cobra.

"Why are you…?"

Pepper slanted her eyes at him. Tony frowned and flipped that hand back and forth.

"With the Shelby?"

Once her heart rate calmed down considerably, Pepper dropped back onto the work stool and sighed. "Do you remember when you finished this?"

"Yeah, I raced it against the 442 I used to have."

She nodded with a wistful smile. "My dad had a 442…"

Tony sat on the corner of his desk. "You never told me that…"

"My mom had a '67 Shelby Cobra 427…" Pepper glanced back at the one Tony had inadvertently used as a landing pad. He winced sharply at this.

"Ouch…"

"Hers was the other way around—white with blue stripes. I couldn't believe she ever owned a car like _that_ until she showed me pictures. I mean, she drives a _Prius _now. How can you go from a Cobra to…" Pepper trailed off with a disbelieving shrug.

Tony stole her coffee and sipped at it. "They are economical…"

Pepper made that noise again. _"Gah."_

Tony grinned. "But they don't go _'vroom,' _do they?_"_

"Those stupid cars _buzz._ Give me my coffee, please? Yours is upstairs."

He withheld the coffee and caught her eyes. "Do you want to help me rebuild it?" he asked.

Pepper held his dark, sleepy eyes as long as she could without blinking—searching for any teasing notes he may have hidden within. When she saw he was being as serious as he could get, Pepper reached her hand out once more for her coffee. He handed it to her—almost like a peace offering.

"I've got a list of parts we'll need," Pepper finished her Starbucks (vaguely tasting the toothpaste Tony used) and grabbed one of the many sketchbooks that littered his desk. She quickly wrote down what she'd been thinking of before he'd snuck up behind her and showed it to him.

Tony smiled.

* * *

**END**


End file.
